Dr. Zhang is currently a professor at the Department of Civil Engineering, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He received his Ph.D degree in Geotechnical Engineering in 1989 from Sichuan University. Subsequently, he taught at the university for six years and was promoted to the rank of full professor in 1994. He then spent a half year in Karlsruhe University, Germany, and three years in the University of Florida, USA, as a post doctoral research associate before joining HKUST in 2000.

Dr. Zhang’s research areas include deep foundations, quality assurance, embankments and slopes, natural disasters reduction, and geotechnical risk and reliability. He is actively investigating the safety of critical infrastructures under extreme events. He is also exploring an integrated approach for identification and management of risks during the design, construction and operation stages of a civil engineering project. He has published over 180 technical papers.

Dr. Zhang serves in the Risk Assessment and Management Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Technical Committees TC18 (Deep foundations) and TC23 (Limit State Design in Geotechnical Engineering) of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, and several other professional bodies.